In October, Amna Al Ameri left her 9-to-5 software engineering job to pursue her dream in the competitive gaming world, becoming one of the first female Emirati esports athletes.
Al Ameri, 25, says even her software engineering career was a result of her passion for video games.
"I thought about wanting to develop my own video games one day," she tells The National.
Al Ameri's love for video games began when she was only six years old, when she owned her first Nintendo Game Boy console.
"My favourite games on that console were Zelda, Pokemon and Tetris," she says.
She soon blossomed into an esports enthusiast when she found herself excelling at League of Legends.
"I thought: 'If I’m getting really good at this, why not take it at the next level and compete?’"
Known in the esports world as Moki, Al Ameri is now taking the gaming world by storm. She took part in her first tournament at Girlgamer eSports Festival Dubai in 2020, geared towards showcasing the skills of female gamers.
"It was huge," Al Ameri says. "That was my first tournament and how I began my e-sports career."
Al Ameri was part of a team known as Galaxy Racer, which came fifth at the competition.
After being part of Galaxy Racer for a year and a half, she joined Geekay Esports as a content creator and then later moved on to Lost eSports as a content creator and pro player. She has now joined the esports and game developer company Barzah Studios as a pro player.
However, being one of the first Emirati female esports athletes does not come without any challenges.
Al Ameri, who streams herself playing League of Legends on Twitch, says she often receives unsettling comments from internet trolls regarding her skills and her gender.
"I always feel like I’m treated differently because I’m a female even though I play at the same equal level as a male," she says. "I get comments like: ‘Oh, you should have done this, you should have done that, you’re not supposed to do this,’ and it kind of stresses me out because I have to play well and if I don’t, it’s like: ‘Oh, you don’t play good because you’re a female’."
But Al Ameri is determined to block out the negative noise and preserve her love of competitive gaming. She hopes to inspire other Emirati female gamers to take part in esports and compete.
She also wants to push the scene further in the region and show support to aspiring female esports athletes. In a society where traditional career paths are favoured, she believes increasing the visibility of female Emiratis in the field will "boost the scene".
"It’s going to motivate the younger generation to actually pursue this as a career," she says.
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Founders: Michele Ferrario, Nino Ulsamer and Freddy Lim
Started: established in 2016 and launched in July 2017
Based: Singapore, with offices in the UAE, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Thailand
Sector: FinTech, wealth management
Initial investment: $500,000 in seed round 1 in 2016; $2.2m in seed round 2 in 2017; $5m in series A round in 2018; $12m in series B round in 2019; $16m in series C round in 2020 and $25m in series D round in 2021
Current staff: more than 160 employees
Stage: series D
Investors: EightRoads Ventures, Square Peg Capital, Sequoia Capital India
F1 The Movie
Starring: Brad Pitt, Damson Idris, Kerry Condon, Javier Bardem
Director: Joseph Kosinski
Rating: 4/5
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Tearful appearance
Chancellor Rachel Reeves set markets on edge as she appeared visibly distraught in parliament on Wednesday.
Legislative setbacks for the government have blown a new hole in the budgetary calculations at a time when the deficit is stubbornly large and the economy is struggling to grow.
She appeared with Keir Starmer on Thursday and the pair embraced, but he had failed to give her his backing as she cried a day earlier.
A spokesman said her upset demeanour was due to a personal matter.
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Wicked
Director: Jon M Chu
Stars: Cynthia Erivo, Ariana Grande, Jonathan Bailey
In-demand jobs and monthly salaries
- Technology expert in robotics and automation: Dh20,000 to Dh40,000
- Energy engineer: Dh25,000 to Dh30,000
- Production engineer: Dh30,000 to Dh40,000
- Data-driven supply chain management professional: Dh30,000 to Dh50,000
- HR leader: Dh40,000 to Dh60,000
- Engineering leader: Dh30,000 to Dh55,000
- Project manager: Dh55,000 to Dh65,000
- Senior reservoir engineer: Dh40,000 to Dh55,000
- Senior drilling engineer: Dh38,000 to Dh46,000
- Senior process engineer: Dh28,000 to Dh38,000
- Senior maintenance engineer: Dh22,000 to Dh34,000
- Field engineer: Dh6,500 to Dh7,500
- Field supervisor: Dh9,000 to Dh12,000
- Field operator: Dh5,000 to Dh7,000
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
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ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
